CD Review: Cake, Pressure Chief

Formed in California in 1991 by John McCrea, Cake have had something of a cult following over the years with this release being their best.

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John McCrea sometimes comes across as wanting lyrically, especially on the annoying No Phone, which ironically is their highest charting single. However there are much better tracks on here including Carbon Monoxide, an excellent rendition of Bread’s Guitar Man, Dime, and Wheels.

Lot’s of jingle jangle on the guitars, plus a solid rhythm section of Xan McCurdy and Gabriel Nelson make, for the most part, an enjoyable album with the odd hiccup.

Generally Cake stay true to their indie roots, but this album wouldn’t go astray in the mainstream, although you probably need a couple of run throughs to get into the swing of things.